The House of the Seven Gables - DECEMBER 2021 To preserve, share and continue the American story
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DECEMBER
2021
The House of
the Seven Gables
To preserve, share and continue the American story
A Message from
our Leadership Kara McLaughlin
Executive Director
Kenneth C. Turino
President of the
Board of Trustees
Dear Friends,
We hope this letter finds you safe and well as we approach the end of 2021.
This year has been one of change. The ongoing pandemic has required us to operate with a high level of
flexibility while maintaining some sense of consistency and stability for our staff, students, and visitors.
Though maintaining this balance has not been an easy task, our exceptional team is up to the challenge.
The House of the Seven Gables reopened to the public in April with reduced tour capacity and limited staff.
As public health guidelines evolved, we increased our capacity levels and welcomed more visitors to our site.
This October we saw over 19,000 visitors at The Gables. While less than the 30,000+ visitors we normally
see at that time of year, we take the return of visitors as a sign of better things to come in the new year.
We spent this year celebrating our founder Caroline Emmerton’s vision to preserve our site while serving the
community. We were able to resume our English as a Secondary Language and Citizenship classes in person
with COVID-19 precautions in place. Despite the struggles caused by the pandemic, 17 of our students have
taken the oath of allegiance and are now naturalized citizens.
This edition of the newsletter highlights many of our accomplishments in areas such as preservation, public
programming, Settlement work, membership, and more. It also provides a glimpse at some projects and
initiatives we have planned for next year. In 2022 we will explore, via a series of special programs and
events, what it means to build community. No matter what community you are from, you share a sense of
place or identity with those in your circle. The House of the Seven Gables Settlement Association has been
a center of Salem’s community for over a century - sharing a rich history with visitors from around the globe
and providing educational resources for people living in the greater Salem area.
We are grateful for the continued generous support of our community and especially that of you, our
members. Your support has carried us through this uncertain time, and we look forward to continuing to
engage with you through meaningful experiences in the coming years.
With appreciation,
Board of Trustees
Kenneth C. Turino Kara McLaughlin Samuel Lim Christine P. Thomson
President Executive Director Student Trustee Todd H. Waller
Elizabeth McKeigue Nina Anderson Erick Lucera
Vice President Jacqueline Washburn
Patricia Fae Ho Javier F. Márquez
Irene V. Axelrod Jeffrey B. Whitmore
Secretary David Hart Sharon D. Meyers Robin L. Woodman
Mariflor Uva Jeff Huebschmann Kevin W. Quinlan
Treasurer Pablo Jiménez Robert C. Seamans, III
2 / The House of the Seven Gables
This Year in Photos
Top Left: ESL class at the PEM; Top Right: Summer tour group; Middle Left: The Gables in November 2021;
Middle Right: A conversation circle November 2021; Bottom Left: The Gables Visitor’s Center during the spring
2021 reopening; Bottom Right: Wild Sea Wellness Yoga partnership September 2021.
T h e H o us e o f t h e S e v en Gabl es / 3
Resurrecting
“Young Goodman Brown”
to Find Timely Relevance
By Rae Padilla Francoeur, Writer/Editor
Until recently, the only time I read anything by Nathaniel witchcraft hysteria of 1692. If
Hawthorne was when I had to. My class read “The ever there was a time on the
Scarlet Letter” in seventh-grade in Santa Barbara, North Shore when one might
California. Mostly, I felt sorry for Hester Prynne. Now I conjure witches, it was then.
see our teacher’s motives. The novel was a cautionary Property issues were among
tale for seventh-graders. Sex education disguised as the more tangible problems.
literature. Heartache disguised as romance. Surrounding the village of 1692
were dark woods where all
Years later, a work colleague recommended “Young manner of danger lurked. As
Goodman Brown.” He made a copy of the Hawthorne my colleague said, woods could
short story for me and, feeling obligated, I read it. I loved easily represent the absence
the lush depiction of the woods — alive with movement of civilization. Goodman Brown
and evil intent. From my summers backpacking in the saw that firsthand. So did the
High Sierras I shared this view. Sometimes the woods settlers.
are like that. Scary. Instead of Native Americans and
colonists raiding each other’s encampments, there were Residents had relocated from
bear raids on our food caches. Maine, where they had brutal encounters with the
Native Americans and probably suffered from PTSD. In
I’ve recently reread “Young Goodman Brown,” this time Sebastian Junger’s new book “Freedom,” he writes that
with a short story study group I joined via Zoom back the torture was so prolonged and terrifying, culminating
in March 2020 right after the COVID-19 lockdown. I in death, that the colonists preferred to fight to the death
facilitated our discussion of this classic story, said to be rather than be taken prisoner.
one of Hawthorne’s best.
Most people know that Nathaniel Hawthorne was a
In a nutshell, Young Goodman Brown leaves his home native son of Salem. He was complex, committed to his
in Salem Village at dusk. His bride of three months, writing, precocious and funny and creative as a boy,
Faith, implores him to stay. But Brown had promised to and a devoted father and husband. There are so many
meet a man in the woods. Oddly, it took the man only 15 parts to him that I wonder if anyone, so many years
minutes to journey from Boston to Salem on foot. The later, can ever fully comprehend him. He was not a
man’s cane has a carved snake that appears to writhe. recluse, as many believe. He was not bound solely to
He possesses devilish powers. Brown then encounters Massachusetts but traveled and lived abroad. He was a
fellow villagers — the pious and the reprobates and talented diarist and is now accessible online at Project
everybody in between. It’s as if society has relocated Guttenberg and elsewhere. As a boy he loved the
to this uncivilized and forbidding place — including his woods.
beloved Faith. Brown then comes to, either from shock
or a nightmare, forever changed into a mistrusting, bitter Hawthorne is not easy. Our group has a guideline that
man. He has lost his faith in people and society. most of us have adopted — a short story needs to be
read three times to be understood. Fortunately, “Young
It helps to read “Young Goodman Brown” with some Goodman Brown” is under 10 pages. The more times
historical perspective. Hawthorne set the story in we read it, the easier it became to feel at home with the
Salem Village (then, Danvers) shortly before the language.
...continued on page 11
4 / The House of the Seven Gables
This Year at the
Settlement Association By Kate Dulmage, Settlement and Education Programs Manager
This year has seen many challenges due to the In conjunction with our regular classes, we are starting
COVID-19 pandemic. Fortunately, we were able to conversation circles, which bring people from the Salem
resume in-person ESL and citizenship classes in community together to help ESL students practice
April 2021. More than 60 students participated in English while practicing their Spanish. A volunteer
the April-through-August session. We are grateful description is up on our website for anyone interested in
for our partnership with the Peabody Essex Museum learning more about the program or signing up.
for hosting our
In 2022, we plan to run ESL and citizenship classes from
classes. Funding
January to June, an eight-week summer session, and
for the spring
a fall semester starting in September. To encourage
2021 courses
our ESL students to engage at The Gables, we will
was provided by
offer family memberships to students who complete
the Van Otterloo
the program. They will be able to take tours, which will
Family Foundation.
be offered in Spanish, and participate in other family-
More than 20 people took their oaths to become U.S. friendly programming throughout the year.
citizens at this September’s Naturalization Ceremony on
the lawn at The Gables. These individuals came from
over 12 countries. More than 60 students are enrolled in
the fall 2021 session. We have hired two new teachers
to support the growing number of students, and hope to
be able to add an additional citizenship class in January
2022. In order to afford more students the opportunity
to take classes, we are working with the PEM Pals early
art education program to offer a childcare enrichment
program on site during our adult courses.
Funding for the fall 2021 session was provided by a
Sustaining the Humanities grant from Mass Humanities’
SHARP program. Funding from Mass Humanities has
been made possible by the National Endowment for the
Humanities (NEH) through the American Rescue Plan,
legislated by Congress to support the response and
recovery of the cultural sector from the ongoing impacts
of the coronavirus. We are grateful to have received
additional support from the Salem Education Fund. Top: November 2021 Citizenship class;
Bottom: ESL Class September 2021 at PEM
T h e H o us e o f t h e S e v en Gabl es / 5
Your membership supports our efforts in preserving our historic campus
and providing educational opportunities to newly arrived immigrants.
This Year in Development
By Geneva Cann, Development Associate
500-Members Milestone
The Gables has a lot to celebrate this year, including a milestone for 2022
our membership program. This fall, we officially surpassed 500 current Member Events
members - a first in Gables’ history. In February, due to the pandemic, we
dipped to 227 members, and now we have the most we’ve ever had at 530
and counting! Thank you to our staff for advocating and mentioning the Saturday, April 30
membership program. And thank you to our beloved members. We look 10 a.m. and 11:30 a.m.
forward to the future as we continue to grow and make our membership John Proctor House Tour
program the best it can be.
Friday, June 24
2021 Member Events Spotlight 6 p.m.
This was another year of pivoting and Family Fun Night
changing with the times. The Development
team was able to host some cancelled
2020 events and our members had a great Monday, July 4
time! In September, members gathered 5 p.m.
in Gloucester for a tour of the Cape Ann Celebrate the Fourth
Museum. A special exhibition of Fitz Henry
Lane’s works was on display, but members
Harbor Sweets Member Tour - Wednesday, November 9
October 6, 2021
were especially intrigued by a large model
6:30 p.m.
of Gloucester’s fishing port. In October,
members and Development staff were treated to a behind-the-scenes Special Night Tour
factory tour of Harbor Sweets—and, of course, sampled some chocolate. of The Gables
Thank you to these generous partners for their time, expertise, and warm patron level or higher
welcome.
Wednesday, November 16
Member Holiday Event 6 p.m.
December 10, 5:30 — 7:30pm Furniture and Design
Join us this year at The Gables to Tour of The Gables
celebrate the festive season. This
member holiday event will include
caroling led by some of our musically Friday, December 9
inclined staff members, a photo op in 5:30 p.m.
front of the Uptons’ Christmas tree in Holiday Shopping Event
the parlor of The Gables, ornament
making, a hot cocoa bar and cookies, Our mission is to be a
and 25% off for all membership welcoming, thriving,
levels in the Museum Store. You are historic site and
welcome to drop in for part of the Cape Ann Museum Member Tour – community resource
event or stay for the entire time. We September 25, 2021 that engages people of
are excited to welcome members all backgrounds in our
onto our historic site! inclusive American story.
6 / The House of the Seven Gables
“A Short Biography of
Nathaniel Hawthorne” By David Moffat, Visitor Services Specialist
I cherished the opportunity to write “A Short The biggest challenge in
Biography of Nathaniel Hawthorne” published writing the book was covering
in October 2021 by Banna Books, an imprint of all the major events of his
Applewood Books. Previous American writers life and the context of his
honored with “Short Biographies” include times, while keeping to the
Washington Irving, Henry David Thoreau, and strict 4000-word limit. In my
Ernest Hemingway. The books are very short (under time working at The House
30 pages!), making them an ideal overview of the of the Seven Gables, I had
subject’s life for students or tourists. worked on projects studying
the life of his father and his
I have long been a fan of Hawthorne’s work. I had views on Utopia in reference A Short Biography of
read all his novels and many of his short stories to his time at Brook Farm and Nathaniel Hawthorne
but the project allowed me an excuse to complete visits to Shaker communities. by David Moffat
the run, discovering lesser-known gems such as I had already written over
his insightful and funny collection of essays on 7,000 words on each topic. I struggled over every
England, “Our Old Home.” As a through line, I sentence, trying to retain as much meaning as
looked to Hawthorne’s significance as one of the possible while keeping things brief! I hope the
first modern fiction writers in the United States and resulting work will serve students and visitors well
the importance of history in his imagination. for years to come. Signed copies of the book are
now available in the Museum Store.
The House of the Seven
Gables Museum Store
The Museum Store offers a charming holiday
experience with items that that have a timeless
quality. We promote our local history, the
celebrity of Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the
generous legacy of our founder, Miss Caroline
Emmerton. Come on by and feel the past come
to life in our gift shop, located within the Retire
Becket House (c.1655), the oldest house on
our historic site. Bring your family and friends,
and shop locally this season. You are sure to
find unique offerings, and enjoy the festive
atmosphere of an old New England Christmas.
T h e H o us e o f t h e S e v en Gabl es / 7
This Year in Preservation
By Holly Watson, Assistant Visitor Services Manager
Preservation is one of the backbones of our from entering.” They are scheduled to come back
institution. This year the department has in 2022 to repoint the sea wall. Climate change and
undertaken several important projects to protect rising sea levels have made maintaining our sea
our historic buildings and site, and ensure the wall a high priority for our historic seaside site.
comfort and safety of our guests and staff.
We are working to manage flooding on site by
This August the basement at the Nathaniel maximizing the drainage efficiency. Many of the
Hawthorne Birthplace flooded due to the underground drains at the base of the gutter
abundance of heavy rain. The preservation and downspouts were partially or fully blocked,
collections team cleaned the basement, treated the contributing to the water buildup throughout the
collections pieces for mold, sealed the bulkhead site. Nelson’s Plumbing of Peabody has been
and window sills, and installed an industrial- systematically working to unclog drains to help
strength dehumidifier. Plans are in place for the prevent flooding. The next stage of the project
basement to be sprayed with a mold killer to arrest involves using a water jet system to clear the
mold growth. downspouts and gutters.
Another historic structure, The Phippen house (c. The patio furniture
1792), needed its two original chimneys repointed. in the gardens and
Repointing is the process of grinding down the grounds – 65 tables,
mortar between the bricks and replacing it with chairs, and benches –
fresh mortar to stabilize the chimney. Fabio Bardini is being blasted and
of Florentine Renaissance Masonry worked with repainted by Cassidy
lime mortar, a more traditional and softer building Brothers Forge in
material than cement. Bardini used the original Rowley, Massachusetts.
bricks in the restoration project. Funding for this The furniture will
project was provided in part by the Methuen be repainted using
Festival of Trees Preservation Grant program. marine paint, which will
withstand the harsh
Gary Clark and his seaside conditions for
team of masons years to come.
from Clark Masonry The chairs have been stripped
and repainted with the new
& Restoration LLC marine grade paint, the table
Looking forward to
spent many days in will be sent out in the next 2022, we are hoping
August employing round of furniture to direct some of our
their expertise preservation focus
throughout the to the Hooper-Hathaway (c. 1682) and Retire
Clark Masonry & Restoration property to level Becket (c. 1655) Houses. Both of these buildings
working on the walkways the brick walkways, were moved to our site in the early 1900s by
thanks to a 2021 Caroline Emmerton from elsewhere in Salem when
Health and Safety Grant from Independent Schools scheduled for demolition. Follow our preservation
Compensation Corporation (ISCC). Clark’s team efforts in the coming year in our monthly E-views
repointed a small section of the Turner-Ingersoll from The Gables, and on our blog.
Mansion’s foundation in October to prevent mice
8 / The House of the Seven Gables
Collections Corner By Susan Baker, Collections Manager
What do you do to celebrate the holiday season?
Enjoying time with family and friends, playing
games, listening to music, and indulging in food
and drink are probably part of your answer. Our
collections have many objects that represent these
holiday pastimes, including items displayed on
the game table in our parlor. One of our favorite
collection objects is an early 20th-century mah-
jongg set.
Mah-jongg started as a card game in 18th-and
19th-century China. No one knows when the game
started using tiles instead of cards, but the game
spread widely in China and eventually to the West.
Mah-jongg became popularized in the United States
in the 1920s. Similar to the Western card game
Rummy, mah-jongg is a game of skill, strategy, and
luck.
This set consists of carved and stamped bone
playing tiles, counting sticks, and coins, all stored
in a beautiful custom mahogany and brass-bound
box. If you have sharp eyes and know the game,
you’ll realize the layout of the game as displayed in
the photo is completely inaccurate - no one on our
staff had any idea how to play mah-jongg! Some
helpful visitors pointed out our errors and helped
us to correct the display. When we revised our
interpretive plan, we set the parlor interpretation
date to the 1840s and replaced the mah-jongg game
with a more suitable card game.
Come see the house beautifully decorated
for Christmas. You’ll see the new layout of the
game table as well as many more of The Gables’
wonderful collection pieces.
Top: Victorian Christmas tree in the Parlor
of The Gables; Bottom: Mah-jongg set on
the Game Table in the Parlor of The Gables
T h e H o us e o f t h e S e v en Gabl es / 9
This Year in Programming
By Kaylee Redard, Assistant Visitor Services Manager
With constantly changing COVID-19 restrictions, The Our June program, Singular Characters, explored
House of the Seven Gables had to get creative with our the relationship between Henry David Thoreau and
programming this year. With some trial and error, we Nathaniel Hawthorne through the written words of
were able to provide over 12 unique virtual experiences. these American authors and their contemporaries.
This living history program, performed by
2021 began with the launch Richard Smith and Rob Velella, brings Thoreau
of Colonial Classics: A Food and Hawthorne alive to a modern audience.
Demonstration with The House of
the Seven Gables. Once a month The House of the Seven Gables started offering two
between January and June, The off-site audio tours in August. Passages of the Past and
Gables café kitchen was used to Hawthorne’s Shadow audio tours were the result of a
bring colonial recipes into the 21st collaboration between The Gables and a local creative
century. These demonstrations theatrical organization called Intramersive. Passages of
were live over Zoom and the Past takes
Facebook so the audience visitors around
could ask questions during the Colonial Classics the Derby Street
Programming - Baked
cooking. We are excited that Chicken in Winter
neighborhood,
this program has returned and describing
will continue into March 2022. its diverse
history, while
The Gables hosted two virtual lectures this year. In Hawthorne’s
February, internationally acclaimed author Brunonia Shadow is a tour
Barry’s presentation Salem as Inspiration sold through Salem Nathaniel Hawthorne on Zoom during
the June Singular Charactors program
out with over 90 Zoom attendees. In November, led by Nathaniel
author Mary Pilon spoke on her book, “The Hawthorne.
Monopolist,” which focuses on the true origins
of the family favorite game MONOPOLY. In partnership with Musae and Intramersive, we are
now offering an Immersive 360 Tour, which virtually
In March, we launched our new Virtual Naumkeag follows one of our Senior Historical interpreters on a
Settlers to Salem Shippers education program for guided tour of The House of the Seven Gables. It is
grades two through five. An adaptation of our most designed to provide greater access to visitors who
popular in-person education program, it includes a have difficulty navigating our 353-year-old mansion.
3D tour of The Gables, at-home activities, discussions
and videos to engage students remotely. We were These virtual programs have been an amazing learning
thankful to receive a Mass Humanities Digital experience here at The Gables and a great way for us
Capacity Grant, enabling us to offer this virtual to connect with visitors during the COVID-19 pandemic.
program free to Massachusetts teachers in 2021. We plan to offer more virtual programs in 2022 and
hopefully bring back some in-person ones too.
In April we invited folks to join us for a few
rounds of Ancestry Bingo. Designed by Gables
staff, Ancestry Bingo was a fun way for players
to explore their family’s history, and a chance
to win some prizes from our Museum Store.
10 / The House of the Seven GablesWeddings at The Gables By Deb Costa, Manager of Special Events
The House of the Seven Gables has been host to hundreds of weddings
during my 12-year tenure as The Special Events Manager. I have hosted very
small elopements to events with 170 guests. Some are bittersweet, with family
members being ill or having passed on, and there are always remembrances of
the losses. We have also had many interesting themed weddings such as Alice in
Wonderland, Star Wars, along with weddings officiated by Borah, one of Salem’s
famous witches and, of course, the more
traditional nautical theme. Some of my favorites
have also incorporated the family dog that, for
the most part, is well behaved and just loves
to be with its owners and part of the fun during Alice in Wonderland
picture-taking. I want the day to go as perfectly Wedding
as possible and make sure that the couple are
glad to have chosen The House of the Seven
Gables for their wedding venue.
October 2021 Wedding
Photo by Gary Abramson
Resurrecting
“Young Goodman Brown”
to find timely relevance
...continued from page 4
We saw “Young Goodman Brown” as Hawthorne’s way
of thinking about the paranoia that overtook Salem
Village. His interest was personal, and he had become
learned in colonial history. His great-great-grandfather,
John Hathorne, was one of the judges presiding over the
witchcraft trials.
Some group members thought the story was about
evil. Others connected it to mistrust. Still others saw
the prescience of the story, with its relevance to
contemporary times and a deeply divided nation where
life is tragically lost because of a lack of trust and
collaboration. And, of course, facts of witchlike behaviors
presented at trials were not facts at all.
An artful story means different things to different people,
with some overall agreement on key matters like quality
of writing, themes and, yes, entertainment value. “Young
Goodman Brown” has all of those, delivered to us in 1835
by one of America’s great and searching writers.
T h e H o us e o f t h e S e v e n Gabl es / 1 1115 Derby Street
Salem, MA 01970
Views From The Gables
What’s Inside?
Looking ahead to 2022
A Year in Photos
Collections Corner
Member-Exclusive Events
...and more!
Holiday Member Caroling ESL AND CITIZENSHIP CLASSES
and Shopping Event
¡REGISTRESE YA!
December 10, 5:30 – 7:30pm ¡INSCREVA-SE AGORA!
ENSKRI KOUNYE A!
¡REGISTRESE YA!
¡INSCREVA-SE AGORA!
ENSKRI KOUNYE A!
The House of the Seven Gables is offering:
FREE English as a Second Language and
Citizenship test prep classes for adults.
SCHEDULE/HORARIO/HORÁRIO/ORE A:
Winter/Spring: 1/25/2022 — 6/30/2022
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6:00 — 8:00 PM
LOCATION UBICACIÓN/LOCALIZAÇÃO/KOTE:
Enjoy caroling, a photo op in front The Peabody Essex Museum (PEM)
of the Uptons’ Christmas tree, ornament 161 Essex Street Salem, MA 01970
making, a hot cocoa bar and cookies,
and 25% off for all membership levels For more information, contact: The House of the Seven Gables
in the Museum Store. 978-306-7001 • kdulmage@7gables.orgYou can also read
